Patty Jenkins & Gal Gadot Talk Bringing Cheetah To Life In ‘Wonder Woman 1984’ And Working With Kristen Wiig
Cheetah is making her live-action debut this year!
Wonder Woman 1984 is almost here! It was recently announced that the film would be hitting HBO Max Christmas day, some critics had the chance to view the film a little earlier. I was lucky enough to be one of them,and can confidently say I loved the movie!
After the screening, we had a chance to attend a virtual mixer with director Patty Jenkins and Wonder Woman herself, Gal Gadot to chat about the movie. During the chat, I asked Patty about the process of bringing Cheetah to life, and for Gal, I asked her about building the on-screen chemistry she had with Kristen Wiig.
Check out their answers below:
So Patty, my question for you is, what was it like including Cheetah and building that dynamic between her and Wonder Woman?
Patty Jenkins: The arc was great. It was funny and we’ve talked about it a little bit but it’s not a purely feminine arc. But it is an arc that makes a lot of sense to women in their friendships that they’ve had in your youth. And so, it was fun to get to do that and interesting to get to do that kind of thing.
Your friend who turns into your frenemy when they realize that they’re coveting something about you, and like that was really cool. And it was cool to try to make her arc really organic where it gets to a place where she like, “It’s my turn”, you know? There’s that bitterness and I love the performance there when she says, “It’s my turn. You think I don’t understand?” misunderstanding completely what Diana is trying to tell her.
Executing Cheetah was harrowing, I gotta tell you. I knew that I wanted her to be in it but from day one, I was like this has got to be right, you know? I was scared about not getting it to look right and it took every second from the moment we started prep to the moment we locked picture to get there. Like, every single second is so hard to do.
For you Gal, what was it like working with Kristen Wiig? Because I thought y’all’s dynamic was perfect!
Gal Gadot: Kristen is freaking amazing! I love her so much. When she came to set, it was very quick and we clicked immediately. And we just have such a good chemistry and it was pure fun. It was like, you know, we have to work out the entire production. And we have to do so many stands. And it’s physical, and you’re tired and all of that. But as soon as we get to set and we’re all together, it’s delightful. It’s electric! We’re laughing all the time!
One moment we’re laughing and then they start rolling cameras and in a second we can both get into the mode of being in character and becoming serious and all of that. We shot the movie for almost eight months, every day, sometimes six days a week.People started to ask me what was my name and I said, “Wonder Woman”. I had like an identity crisis. It was that bad. But what I’m saying is, I can’t imagine how it feels to shoot such a project with people that you don’t get along with.
With us, It feels like family. Patty’s family is my family. Kristen and Pedro and Chris are my family. They’re all like we’re one. We’re living in a commune when we’re shooting these type of movies [laughs]. So it is just amazing! And it’s so great that you felt that we had this connection.
Wonder Woman 1984 hits HBO Max on Christmas Day!
